


Do you know that courage can wash away your tears?

by Eliyes



Category: Captain America (Comics)
Genre: Cancer, Canon Gay Character, Childhood Friends, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-26
Updated: 2013-09-26
Packaged: 2017-12-27 17:44:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/981797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eliyes/pseuds/Eliyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve Rogers sat in a hard plastic chair by a hospital bed. The occupant of this bed, Arnie Roth, had been the boy next door of Steve's long-ago childhood: friend, protector, confidant... brother. While Steve had been frozen near the end of WWII and revived decades later, Arnie had traversed the intervening years the hard way. Now, cancer would soon take Arnie away forever -- severing the last living link to Steve's life before Captain America.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Do you know that courage can wash away your tears?

**Author's Note:**

> Near the beginning of the _Captain America_ movie, I leaned over to the friend sitting beside me and said, "They've combined Bucky with Arnie Roth!" She thinks they aged up Bucky to Steve's equal to avoid killing a "kid"; I just figure they wanted to reduce the number of characters to something manageable. Whatever the reason, it made me write this: a tribute to Arnie Roth.
> 
> Thank you, [kiffie](http://kiffie.livejournal.com/), for beta reading this, and [lizblackdog](http://lizblackdog.livejournal.com/), for a timely spot of good advice.
> 
> Title is a line from "Stand Up" by Susan Aglukark.
> 
> This story was originally posted on Livejournal August 22, 2011.

 

Steve Rogers sat in a hard plastic chair by a hospital bed. The occupant of this bed, Arnie Roth, had been the boy next door of Steve's long-ago childhood: friend, protector, confidant... brother. While Steve had been frozen near the end of WWII and revived decades later, Arnie had traversed the intervening years the hard way. Now, cancer would soon take Arnie away forever -- severing the last living link to Steve's life before Captain America.

Being by Arnie's side always brought back childhood memories for Steve, and today was no different. His face reflected the ache of recallng another sickbed...

"What?" Arnie croaked. Steve looked up, surprised from his meandering thoughts.

"I thought you were asleep."

"Don't give me that."

"Huh?"

"I want to know what put that look on your face, Stevie."

Steve's mouth twisted into a half-smile.

"I was just thinking..."

"Don't strain anything," Arnie quipped, managing a wink. Steve snorted with amusement.

"I was thinking you remind me of my mother."

Arnie blinked in surprise. "...I choose to take that as a compliment," he said after a pause.

"Probably for the best," Steve deadpanned. Arnie laughed -- just a short laugh before he stopped, breathless. Steve got him some water to sip, which seemed to help bring his voice back.

"You remind me of her," Arnie said eventually.

"I remind you of my mother?"

"Yeah. I don't mean the face --" A tiny gesture of his fingers indicated Steve's head. There was a strong familial resemblance, even after the super-soldier serum. "You've got a lot of her... better qualities. The determination, the selflessness -- you've got that. She'd be really proud of you, Steve."

"Thank you," Steve said, eyes stinging.

"Ha," Arnie breathed. "Ain't I the smug one? I know who Captain America's hero was."

Steve sniffed and dashed hot tears off his cheeks, then closed both his hands around one of Arnie's. It felt frail and dry, but he remembered when the proportions had been reversed. Arnie's strong hands had pulled Steve to his feet more times than he could have counted -- usually after being used to lay a well-deserved thumping on the local bullies.

"One of them," Steve told Arnie softly, and tried not to clutch too tightly.


End file.
